Tom Cora

Hallelujah Anyway is an important retrospective of underrecognized and versatile cellist Tom Cora. A worthy eulogy, released one year after his death, this double-disc set includes songs written in his memory, songs that he composed for others, and a great cross-section of the myriad projects and musical contexts that Cora embraced. And that means a cross-section of all the creative experimenters and improvisers in avant garde rock, jazz, etc. spanning the late '70s through the late '90s. This collection includes some of Cora's solo recordings, as well as projects with John Zorn, Carlos Zingaro, Richard Teitelbaum, the Ex, Barre Philips, and the bands Curlew, Roof, Third Person (with Samm Bennett), the Chadbournes, and Skeleton Crew (with Fred Frith)…

In 1978, Italian percussionist Andrea Centazzo toured the United States with a cutting-edge sextet, and then recorded it live for New York City radio. This is the first complete release of that recording session, adding important tracks to two earlier releases. A quick look at the personnel is telling: John Zorn on reeds; Toshinori Kondo on trumpet; Tom Cora on cello; Eugene Chadbourne on guitars; the woefully underappreciated Polly Bradfield on violin; and, of course, Centazzo leading on percussion…

One hundred tapes. Recorded by Jean Vapeur on the now legendary Nagra IV S tape recorder. A box full of the original sound recordings for Step Across the Border, the film Werner Penzel and I travelled around the world to make in 1988-1989 with musician Fred Frith. Just before the collapse of Socialism and the digital take-over of the world. Twenty minutes on every tape. That is, thirty-three hours of sound material. In the end, only ninety minutes of it are in the film. The rest of the recordings have been slumbering away in an old crate, and trailed along on our every studio move, surviving icy winters and even a flood in our archive vault. Now and again I need to clean the tape debris off the Nagra with a brush. Little piles of magnetic dust. But the sounds are still there! Wear debris, a symbol of elapsed time.

Dhafer Youssef's music is rooted in the Sufi tradition and other mystical music but has always been open to ideas from other musical cultures, including jazz. With his complex compositions and deeply affecting singing, Youssef is one of the most impressive voices to emerge in this musical field for several years. Born in Tunisia in 1967, composer, singer, and oud player Dhafer Youssef has been living and working in Vienna since 1990 with such artists as Sainkho Namchylak, Paolo Fresu, Arto Tuncboyacian, Linda Sharrock, Wolfgang Puschnig, Christian Muthspiel, Jamey Haddad, Iva Bittova, Tom Cora and other great improvisers.

Excellent, Henry Cow-influenced RIO band from Neuchatel, Switzerland who recorded two worthwhile albums and then disbanded. The first ("Emile Au Jardin Patrologique", 1981) is the more jazzy and "out" of the two, and the large size (nine members) and diverse instrumentation (saxes, clarinets, violin, keyboards, bass, guitars, drums, percussions, and voice) add to the spontaneity and flexibilty of the music. Vocals are more prominent and the horns are de-emphasized for a less-jazzy sound on "Battre Campagne" (1984). Both albums are 'must-haves' for fans of the RIO/Canterbury style. Several members of Debile Menthol went on to play with other interesting bands. Guitarist Jean M. Rossel formed the more folk-influenced Nimal with 'cellist Tom Cora (Skeleton Crew, Curlew, et al.), drummer Pippin Barnett (Orthotonics, Curlew), and others. Other members of Debile Menthol went on to form a group called L'Ensemble Raye.

Charlie Hunter & Bobby Previte - Come In Red Dog, This Is Tango Leader (2003) {Ropeadope Records RCD16044}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 291 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 125 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 2003 Ropeadope Records / Rykodisc | RCD16044
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Modern Post Bebop / Groove / 8-string Guitar / Drums

Come in Red Dog, This Is Tango Leader was the first recorded meeting of eight-string wunderkind Charlie Hunter and master drummer/composer Bobby Previte, but it went so well that they decided to make an ongoing project of it called Groundtruther where the two of them play with a rotating third member (similar to Samm Bennett and Tom Cora's Third Person). However, this is just the two of them and although the album was "recorded live as all get out, baby," it's sometimes difficult to believe. Charlie Hunter is pretty well known for sounding like more than one person on his eight-string guitar, but Bobby Previte's electronic hybrid drum set allows him to do much the same thing with triggered samples.